Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross understood to be teaming up with Qatar
Sports Investments to buy out CVC Capital Partners and Bernie Ecclestone

Formula One could be the subject of an £5billion joint bid by Qatar and the owner of an American football team to buy a controlling stake in the sport.

Stephen Ross, the sports tycoon who owns the Miami Dolphins, is understood to be teaming up with Qatar Sports Investments – which also owns Paris Saint-Germain – to buy out both CVC Capital Partners and Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s embattled chief executive.

Donald Mackenzie, the publicity-shy co-chairman of CVC, has been attending more and more races this season and is aware of the sport’s struggles. The private equity company are eager to sell but are believed to hold a valuation closer to $9 billion (£5.7 billion).

Motor racing is the one major blank spot in Qatar’s portfolio, with the oil-rich country having made extensive investments, particularly in football. They have been trying for years to host a race but it has been rejected because Bahrain hold a veto on their place in the F1 calendar. There are also suggestions that Qatar has stepped up its interest in Formula One after the ongoing corruption scandal at Fifa over the 2022 World Cup.

Private equity firm CVC currently own 35.5 per cent of the business, while Ecclestone has a personal stake of roughly five per cent. CVC were in talks with Liberty Global and Discovery Communications last year but they could not reach an agreement for a 49 per cent stake.

The company behind this latest bid is RSE Ventures, owned by Ross. According to the Financial Times, Ross and RSE are keen to keep Ecclestone on as chief executive if any buyout was successful. On this possible offer, Ecclestone said: “My shares will be sold together with theirs.”

F1’s chief executive added: “There are three or four people talking to CVC but I don't know how close things have got at this stage. If they decide to sell, they will have to tell me because I am a shareholder. “

Bernie Ecclestone has a personal stake in F1 of roughly five per cent

"CVC are in the business of buying and selling companies. The point is that they are very happy with F1 and Donald is not an enthusiastic seller. But their business is selling and everything has a price."

CVC said it had not yet received an official bid and declined to comment on the talks. Motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, has not received an application, as they have to approve any transaction.

Ross, 75, has also been in talks with David Beckham over bringing a Major League Soccer team to Miami. RSE Ventures was formed in 2012 when Ross joined forces with Matt Higgins, the CEO in charge of rebuilding the World Trade Center site in New York.

The potential bid comes at an already uncertain time for Formula One. While television viewing figures have rallied in the UK and in Italy, they are down across the board. At last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix spectator numbers were roughly 40 per cent lower than in 2014, prompting F1 to embark on yet another round of navel-gazing.

CVC has controlled Formula One for nearly a decade, but has gradually sold down its stake. In 2012 it sold $1.6billion (£1billion) of shares to BlackRock, Norges Bank and Waddell & Reed. It has been a phenomenally successful investment for CVC, returning roughly five times what it spent back in 2005. Some believe it is the most successful private equity deal in history.

But after failing to float the sport on the Singapore stock exchange in 2012, CVC’s ownership has become a public relations disaster. There are persistent complaints about the share of the prize money, agreed in the wake of that potential flotation to try and secure the involvement of the biggest teams – including Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes – until 2020.

There is widespread unhappiness with Mackenzie in the sport and his failure to take control of the situation. Ecclestone and Jean Todt, the FIA President, have so far failed to form an alliance and push through meaningful rule change.

Christian Horner has had his say on the bid

Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, told Telegraph Sport in Austria: “They’ve both got an enormous amount of experience and a huge amount of knowledge of the sport. You wouldn’t think it should be that difficult for those guys to come up with something. Let’s not forget CVC in this. They’ve got skin in the game. It’s in their interests as well.”

Horner’s boss, Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, has been interested in buying the sport but has gradually been losing interest. In Spielberg last weekend he reiterated his threat to pull out of Formula One.

Ecclestone has been struggling to retain his grip on the sport he largely created in his image ever since his trial for bribery in Munich in 2014. At the end of last year, Mackenzie appeared to run out of patience, lining up Paul Walsh, the former chief executive of drinks giant Diageo, to become chairman of the sport’s board and gradually assume control.

But Ecclestone successfully persuaded Mackenzie to ditch the plan. Walsh was initially announced as taking up a place on F1’s board, Delta Topco, but it later emerged that he had not been appointed or attended any board meetings.